Seshadri's Musings

One of the most difficult things to do is to say NO to someone.  It may either an invitation for a function, or doing some favor or just telling him/her to leave you alone for some time.  Many a times we are forced to say YES to something and repent about it in leisure.  We want to be so good in the eyes of people that we readily say YES without thinking about anything.  If you keep continuing this way, be prepared to do a lot more than you imagined, when you accepted it in the first place!! This NO can be anything ranging from accepting to baby-sit a child, going out on vacation with them, agreeing to car-pool, attending their function and other things that you feel you are burdened with and will not be enjoying.  From our childhood it is ingrained in us to say YES to whatever we were told to do. During that time, since we had no other work than playing and going to school, we always agreed to do the work that was assigned to us.    Mor...

Do what you have to do, to do what you want to do.  These are the words by Denzel Washington, a famous Hollywood actor.  After listening to others and doing what I am supposed to do, as per what others wanted me to do, I have reached the conclusion that you have to do what you want to do.  Nothing else matters.  I have reached this conclusion very late, but not so late in life!! Of course, when you are young, you are supposed to listen to your parents and do whatever they are telling you to do. Once you get married, you sometimes listen to your spouse and sometimes do what you want to do.  As long as you don’t force your spouse to do your bidding, you can do whatever you want to do.  Letting your spouse do the things their own way is good.  That way you will not be responsible for anything going wrong 😊.  Moreover, even if something goes wrong, they will correct it the next time.  As long as you give space to others to do their own...

Worry – this five-letter word creates such a hype in people’s life that it is very difficult to carry on with other regular work.  If it were for genuine reasons, some worry is an accepted norm.  But most of the time, people fall into such a pathetic state due to worry that they end up spoiling their health as well as relationships. There are various kinds of worries –  worry about the job, about the future, about the children, our health, our family, how we look, are we acceptable to others and so many other things that it can even fill a page.  All the worries make sure that the present work that we have taken up is tossed right outside the window and we will worry about that when the current worry is removed. Some important statistics that were taken from the internet.  I have also added my comments after each statistic as to how to overcome it: - 40% of the things that we worry about, never really happen.   When it is not going to happen, ...

This is something most of us are expert at!!  Even though only some of us may know the meaning of this, but everyone does this on an everyday basis regularly!!  Procrastination is defined as the action of delaying or postponing something.  Want to finish the grocery shopping? Ok we will do it during the weekend.  During the weekend, we are feeling lazy after a hectic week at work and want to catch up on some sleep.  Later, we buy some fast foods or order food from outside, till we go to the supermarket and finish the grocery shopping!! There are also people who have mastered this art.  They will do stuff only when they are in dire straits!! Of course, they will never admit to the dire strait.  For them it is “just-in-time” in their language.  As long as work is going on, why bother for the future!!  Once the future comes, they will decide what is to be done and spend their time on doing that rather than doing other enjoyable things!...

Amar Chitra Katha – this was one of the most popular words in my dictionary, while growing up!  For those of you, I assume it can be counted on our fingertips, the people who have not heard of this wonderful series of illustrated books, this series is really a Pandora box of everything that you need to know about India in simple English language!! Later on, I came to know the true meaning of the series name, Amar Chitra Katha – Immortal Picture Story or Immortal Captivating Story.  The entire series run into more than 400 books or titles.  The first publication of Indian stories came from 1969 onwards and was labelled as Issue No 11.  Earlier in 1967, they had reproduced western fairy tales from Issue No 1 to 10.   I am happy to state that I own all the Amar Chitra Katha’s, except 18 titles, which I cannot find even with Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) publishers.  Some issues I paid extra bucks as I purchased them in eBay and Amazon as they are not avai...

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.  Excellent quote by Joseph Addison.  I am somewhat lazy and try to do exercise whenever the laziness allows me.  But I follow the first part of the quote diligently!!  Reading keeps your brain working and ensures that even though your body might not look young (due to not exercising), your brain definitely would be!! I have been an avid reader since my childhood.  Gorging on Amar Chitra Kathas, Tintin, Asterix, Bahadur, Mandrake, Phantom, Chacha Choudhry, Motu-Patlu in comics.  Perry Mason, Agatha Christie’s works, Sherlock Holmes, James Hadley Chase, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton’s 5 in novels.  I even started reading Robert Ludlum when I was in my 8 th standard.  I remember it was The Bourne Identity.  That was the first 300+ page novel that I had ever read!  I completed it non-stop in about 7-8 hours.  That was the first real page-turner book for me.  Over the...

Most of the people in this world who have reached whatever position they are in right now, have reached there due to the hardship, love and affection shown by their parents.  Without these loving parents, it would have been a very difficult journey for them.  Now that the once-upon-a-time kids have become adults, it is imperative that their parents are shown the same courtesy, love and affection that their parents had bestowed upon them. Most of the time the elder parents will not ask what they want.  It is upto the kids to know what they want (or somehow let the parents speak about their wishes) and fulfil their requirements.  The things would feel very small, but the satisfaction that it provides to the parents is enormous.  Taking care of these small things go a long way to ensure that the elder parents don’t feel alone in their old age and feel part of the family at all times. The elder parents have not known any joy other than to ensure that their...